Design Buying: Part 1 – The Proposal Process

Welcome to part one of our ongoing series about the design buying process. Drawing upon our own successes and failures, our intent is to share valuable insights and practical tips useful for any organization planning to purchase branding or design services.

Proposals. Over the past several years we’ve written a lot of them. Some big, some small, all challenging in their own way. Along the way we’ve learnt a lot, and even become pretty good at them. Faced with stuff competition on more than a few occasions, our clients have often told us it was the quality of our proposal that secured the contract. As such, we take our proposal process very seriously.

The focus of this article isn’t our internal process though; it’s the trials and tribulations of the design buyer (presumably you, if you’re reading this). As a potential design buyer, you should be very concerned-is your communications budget being invested wisely? Is the most competent firm winning the contract, or merely the one who bid the lowest?

The following are a few useful tips for your next design buying experience:

01. If price is an issue, be explicit about it.

This remains a contentious issue in the design community, and no doubt many agencies won’t see eye-to-eye with us on this point. In an ideal world, an organization seeking branding/design services sets aside a generous communications budget and is prepared to commit to that budget if the investment can be rationalized and defended by a prospective agency. In our experience, many small-to-medium sized enterprises have clear expectations about price, and an explicit limit to how much they’re willing to invest, independent of how amazing a proposal may be. In these situations we feel it’s appropriate to specify either an anticipated price-range or a maximum project budget from the outset. There’s a few good reasons for this:

1. Narrow down the competition: How an agency quotes isn’t everything, but it counts for a lot. From our perspective, an agencies time is best spent when expectations are as clear as possible. Being explicit about price gives agencies the opportunity to gauge whether they’re the best fit for the job, saving both parties time and effort in the end.

2. The most realistic solution: The difference between an $8,000 job and $20,000 job isn’t insubstantial. This doesn’t mean a modest budget equals a sub-standard product, though.It does mean looking at the project from a different perspective and working sensibly within those constraints. Being upfront about this will, in our opinion, ensure more focused and relevant proposals, from agencies that are ultimately the right fit for the budget.

02. Consider a brand audit

It’s not uncommon for us to come across prospective clients who have clear, pre-determined ideas about which design solutions or channels will best meet their communications objectives. While some of these organizations may be on target or even more may have conducted market research to substantiate their decisions, most fall into a vicious cycle of using failed tactics to produce consistently sub-standard results.

For these reasons we often encourage our clients to go through a brand audit process. In the case of Armada’s Brand:Precision audit, we look at a diverse range of factors: Your organizational/sales objectives and customer purchase cycle, interviews with key stakeholders, perception analysis, marketing collateral reviews, and more. The result is a clearer, rational picture of your present situation: where you are in relation to your market, what communication strategies aren’t working, and ultimately which communication vehicles make the most sense and merit an investment. It comes down to making smart investments that get results-and a brand audit usually increases your chances of realizing this end.

03. Don’t sweat the details-focus on needs
As a branding agency one of our biggest challenges is keeping the conversation centered on objectives, not aesthetics. This is especially crucial during the proposal process and project kick-off. Do you have a clear idea of the problem you’re trying to solve? Have you come up with criteria to gauge the final design solutions by?

When reviewing proposals, the focus of the document and language employed says a lot about the agency. Have they moved straight into wireframes and aesthetic suggestions or are they talking about solving business and communications problems? Which agency do you think is most likely to understand your needs and product tangible results?

Ultimately, if a project process begins with understanding needs and crafting criteria for success, the best (and often most original) solution will always be found.

That’s the end of part 1 of our design buying series. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for our next installment.